Brand advocacy is about employees, customers, and partners so excited that they’re motivated to use their social channels to engage with, and advocate for, your brand.
So, what does that really mean and how do we do it? Here’s an example. XXXX
Brand advocacy as a B2B social media marketing strategy is just like this story, except it’s all happening online. And like this example, simply sharing the content is not the most important thing. What’s really exciting and meaningful is the engagement around it.
So how does this work for each audience? Let’s talk about employee advocacy first. So many companies want to get their employees to share company brand content on their social channels – it’s a huge, untapped megaphone – but most companies have a big problem. They struggle to motivate employees to share that content. So the root question is why? That question is easily answered when we consider the perspective that the company is taking. Typically, we see a companies with a focus on what an employees can do for them. They present content – white papers, articles, webinars, etc. Then, they offer a bare-bones training on how to use the platforms to publish, no emphasis on building network, reach, personal brand or engagement. So many times, the hope to leveraging all those outstanding employee social networks falls flat, because it is all about the company and has no real benefit for the employee.
At Leadtail, we approach employee advocacy from the perspective of how does brand advocacy benefit the employee. We focus is on training and coaching employees to be “well rounded” social employees – a business condition that is good both for the employee and our company. First, we help employees who are already on social channels to do social strategies better. Also, we help those that want to be on social, who aren’t yet, get started to build a genuine presence in the social world. Being genuine is the key to the type of social engagement we coach employees to build. The efforts and strategies we offer are not just having employees simply share brand content, instead it is how to build mindful, strategic engagements that help both the employee and in turn help the company brand.
All this is accomplished by developing employee advocacy programs that make sharing, posting, and engaging easier for employees. In addition, we evaluate, recommend and roll out employee advocacy tools to streamline opportunities and make engagement simple and effective. Again, leading employees to be well rounded, social employees benefiting themselves and their company brand.